Saturday, March 10, 2018

The European Drug Use Map

The Dutch, the Germans and the Belgiums are the highest users of MDMA in Europe. Cocaine use is highest in cities in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Amphetamine use is highest in cities in the north and east of Europe. It is not so popular in cities in Southern Europe.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction analyzed the wastewater in 60 European cities and towns to discover which drugs were most used by the local population. The results reveal some distinct geographical and temporal patterns in recreational drug use in Europe. As well as the geographical patterns discussed above the analysis found that cocaine and MDMA use is higher at the weekend than during weekdays. Amphetamine use, however, seems to be fairly consistent throughout the week.

You can explore the results of the analysis for yourself on the EMCDDA's interactive map, Wastewater analysis and drugs — a European multi-city study. The map allows you to view the levels of each individual drug found in each of the cities where wastewater was tested. The map also allows you to compare the levels found during weekends and weekdays and to explore how individual recreational drug use in each city has changed over the last seven years (where the data is available).